There's always the Hollywood United all-star pub XI option

Should David Beckham grow frustrated at the standard of football offered up by Major League Soccer, then there is an open invitation of a game with arguably Los Angeles' most star-studded side. Hollywood United, founded 12 years ago by a group of British expats frequenting the Cat & Fiddle pub on Sunset Boulevard, are flourishing with the likes of Vinnie Jones and France's World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf lining up alongside celebrities such as the former Sex Pistol Steve Jones (shown in guitar hero mode below) and the actor Anthony LaPaglia.

Other actors and musicians - from Def Leppard's Viv Campbell to Jason Statham, Mike Myers (right) and Ralf Little - have featured, while the club's flourishing first-team includes Eric Wynalda, the United States' all-time leading goalscorer, and the former Scotland centre-half Richard Gough in their number. LaPaglia, the over-35 team's goalkeeper and Emmy award-winning star of Without a Trace (pictured below), recently ploughed some £100,000 into the club which hopes eventually to buy its own pitch and could yet go professional.

"We had a game a few months back and we had nine ex-internationals in our team," said Vinnie Jones. "We're the most famous pub team in the world. We've become the Harlem Globetrotters of soccer, doing exhibition matches all over the place. The boys did one in Mexico last month, and the matey in Monaco just invited us over to play his team. What's his name? Prince Albert. He wants us over there to play against Michael Schumacher, Boris Becker and that lot. We're more famous than the Galaxy, these days."

Ian Carrington, the team's manager, first came to LA as an unemployed electrician in the early 1990s. "It started as a kick-around," he said. "We wore white T-shirts with marker pen on." The 41-year-old is now Hollywood's go-to man for on-set soccer advice, advising on 10 or so films.